Antioxidants are often employed to protect unsaturated rubber material from oxygen degradation. The poor solubility of some antioxidants may limit the amount of antioxidant that can be introduced into a rubber stock. The effectiveness of the antioxidant may be short-lived if it migrates too quickly to the surface of the material. At the same time, the effectiveness of the antioxidant may be hampered if the antioxidant is not free to migrate throughout the rubber stock.
Because there is an ongoing need to improve the resistance of various rubber goods to degradative effects of oxygen and ozone, there is a desired to better balance the effectiveness of antioxidant behavior.